SmartPros ended a tough year on December 31 as the company reported a $1.6million loss on an 11.1-percent decrease. In June, the education course provider announced a Back-to-Basics program that led to the sale of assets of its Skye Multimedia operations, the abandonment of its custom ethics consulting business and a reduction in the number of lived events managed by its Executive Enterprise Institute division.
The loss compared with $142,923 in net income for 2013. Revenue for the most recently ended year was $13.5 million, down from $15.3 million the prior year. The bottom line was also hurt by a $400,000 write-down of SmartPros' deferred tax asset.
The company said the drop in revenue stemmed primarily from a decline in live training and course usage of its accounting library. Revenue for the accounting/finance division dropped by $1.6 million to $10.8 million.
The company noted the steps it had taken in the Back-to-Basics program that also included a reduction in overhead related to development and reducing expenses related to large customer accounts that have shown a drop in revenue.
"Although these changes will decrease revenues, we are focusing our attention on products with higher returns including our accounting subscriptions, CPE Administration services and licensing of our software products," CEO Allen Greene said in a prepared statement.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind
